The Final Chapter
by CeliaEquus
Summary: A one-shot submission for the Suicide Challenge, and possible chapter for a future story. Hermione knows that her heart is breaking over someone she never intended to fall in love with. What will she do? Usual disclaimers apply.


"The Final Chapter"

The whole wizarding world was now safe. Together, Hermione and Severus had helped the Light triumph, through their combined sacrifices. It was almost a pity they had fallen in love along the way.

There had been no last words between them. There weren't supposed to be; that was never a part of their plans. Neither was the falling-in-love bit. That had been an accident.

Ah, but the pain was there! Hermione now knelt by her lover's grave. Love. That it had been.

"Oh, Severus," she said, placing a hand on the ground before the gravestone. "If only there had been another way." She sniffed, and brushed away some tears with her free hand. "But we did what we had to do, didn't we?" She drew out the phial of lethal potion. "I can't stand it, you know. Why did it happen? Why did I fall for you?" She laughed. "I think you loved me, too."

_I still do_, a voice sang on the wind.

"But I never realised how much it would hurt. We had so little time together. Severus, we never had the chance to say how we felt!"

_That was never in the plans_, he said. She sniffed again, and wiped away more tears. The lump in her throat was growing bigger.

"Damn the stupid plans. I wish we'd never come up with them."

The trees rustled as the breeze lifted her hair. _Really, Hermione_?

"Well… no." She shivered. "No. I will never regret having fallen for you."

_And you would choose an early death_?

"Over heartbreak? Yes. To be with you sooner? Definitely. I _will_ see you again, won't I? After this?" She raised the vial.

_Yes. __**I'll be waiting for you**_.

Hermione nodded. At least she wouldn't die alone. She would have the peaceful end that Severus never had. "Please don't think me weak. In the end, I could empathise with what you had gone through for so many years. No wonder you were so jaded. **It was too much for you. But what if life without you is too much for me?**" She uncorked the potion.

_Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is say goodbye, Hermione._

"But don't you see?" she asked, smiling at the wind. "I will soon be saying hello. To you."

With that, she tilted back her hair, and poured the liquid down her throat, absorbing every last drop as she re-corked the vial.

Months of heartbreak after his death. The revelations and victories had been nothing to Hermione's sorrow. She tried to eat the proper amount, but struggled. Everything turned to lead in her mouth, every time she thought of him. And he was constantly on her mind. The house elves had gotten used to mothering her, constantly changing pillowcases, and even force-feeding her sleeping and healing potions. Her friends could never understand why she was so unhappy.

Many things could have been blamed for the shattered state she had been in. The war had been an almost welcome distraction. People thought that she would cheer up after Voldemort had been killed. But instead she just fell into melancholy once more, dragging herself around home, or around school. Now, sweet respite was on its way. She could rest, and she could see Severus once again.

Dizziness overtook her senses, and she leaned against the headstone, knocking the back of her head against it. She drew in a sharp breath between her teeth, and clutched at the ground in her… well, it wasn't pain. Nor was it comfort. It was some strange sensation, somewhere in between.

"Oh gods," she whispered. But they wouldn't be her last words. No sir.

The day she came to him with her plan, and he agreed after much persuasion; the night he deflowered her for the good of the cause; the weeks after that of making love whenever and wherever they could; the day she confirmed her pregnancy; the moment he had died; the day of their daughter's birth; and now this. All flashed before her eyes as she slumped onto the ground.

"I'll love you forever, Severus Snape," she said, closing her eyes.

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This is for the Suicide Challenge, but will also be the last chapter in a story I want to write. I hope it doesn't give away too much of the plot. But no doubt by the time I get around to writing and posting the darn thing, people will have forgotten how this one-shot goes, and it will all be entirely new to them! (Kind of like "A Note of Regret" and "Hogwarts to the Rescue".) Anyway, important plot points have been left out.

**So, does it still stand on its own? Please review!**


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